We are very grateful to all of the people that kindly read stories to us this week. The children sat beautifully and listened intently to our storytellers. Thank you Vivianne, Elaine, Blair’s Mums Gayle and Pamela.

Mark making in foam

The children practiced writing the first initial in their own name. The joy of wiping the foam away and starting again proved popular.

Writing continued on to the whiteboards; numbers proving a popular topic.

“I did my numbers”

Planting early for our veggie patch

We planted some spring flowers and vegetables from seed. The children  discussed the size of the seeds and said that the seeds for squash looked the same as the seeds inside a pumpkin at Halloween. We discussed what plants need to help them grow.  The children were introduced to the varied instructions each plant requires to grow from a seed, each packet of seeds had different directions of how to sow the seeds.

Construction: ball run

The children worked together to make a slide for their plastic balls. They used long pieces of guttering and tyres and blocks to prop up the slide.

Primary 1 visit.

Mrs Boyd read us a story about a book munching monster.

 

The primary 6 children came down to share a favourite book with us.

 

 

Thank you so much primary 6, we loved having you in to visit.

Construction 

Construction and loose parts offers our children the freedom to be creative, imaginative and have a sense of curiosity both indoors and out.

There were homes for dinosaurs.

Letters of the alphabet.

And 10 pin bowling.

Down time with puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles have proven popular this week. Puzzles develop problem solving skills, patience and cooperative play.

The number puzzle is tricky but allows the children to order the numbers on completion of the jigsaw.

Early addition took place, adding small numbers to 20.

Numbers were so popular, they ended up in the play dough.

Helping hands

Independence 

Blackpool here we come

” Going to Blackpool to buy some rock”

Making lists and signing our names

Story telling: an invitation to play

We then made real porridge for snack.

Love is in the air

Potions of love ❤️ 

 

 

Bird Drama

The children used their bodies to mimic familiar birds and the way in which they walk, fly or even swim. They curled up small like an egg about to hatch.

“Penguins don’t fly, they swim under the ice”

Architects in the making

Lego is a fantastic resource to build children’s fine motor skills, concentration and imagination.

Turn taking and matching 

Risky play: balancing 

Nest building 

“Make it cosy for the wee robin”

Artists painting our feathered friends. 

Choccie bird nests kicked Monday morning off to an exciting start. The children helped to melt chocolate and mix through dry cereal to imitate a bird’s nest. A marshmallow made the perfect egg for on top.

We were lucky enough to have access to the school on Tuesday. These little visits will help considerably in calming any nerves prior to moving onto Primary 1.

The children met Jackie one of our janitorial staff, they were impressed by her new machine to make the floors shiny.

We spotted some familiar names. “That’s my sister ”

There is always time to chill.

Our big bird watch continued. 

We went on nature walks to spot new species of birds.

Check out our gallery

Documenting our findings

The children drew a graph to show how many Crows, Seagulls, Magpies, Blackbirds and Robins we could spot.

 

Yoga mats at the ready

Cosmic Yoga offers the children the tools to self regulate and explore the concept of mindfulness.

Try the programme at home. Some of the poses are a little tricky.

Woodland walks to spot birds and squirrels.

Following the strong winds we found a big tree that had fallen. We tried to guess how old the tree was by counting the rings inside the trunk.

The huge hole left it left after fallen amazed the children. It gave us the opportunity to discuss the roots and how a tree survives.

“It drinks the water”

Within the playroom we set up a bird watching table with binoculars, pens, paper and an RSPB identification checklist.

“Look! A pigeon”

“Wow that’s a magpie”  Adult- ” how do you know it is a magpie?” ” black and white”

Some of the children made small hanging bird feeders using cheerios and tie-wraps. Outside the children placed a big tray of bird seed to attract the birds to come closer to the playroom window.

Even the play dough table took flight as the children added feathers, conkers and pebbles to make various birds.

We even weighed the bird seed before filling the feeders. “It’s a hundred heavy”

Flower science.

The coloured water used in this experiment demonstrates how water is sucked up through a plants stem and then makes it’s way to the different parts of the plant including the flower. This fun experiment is a perfect beginners science experiement for children who want to learn about how flowers absorb water

Attention and listening: introducing syllables. 

The children followed spoken instructions to beat their drumsticks fast, slow, up high, down low and in time with multi syllable words. They were introduced to counting the syllables in their own name.

 

 

Hot chocolate and tea invitation to play.

It started so civilised with warm water, tea bags, powdered chocolate and orange slices.

Children learn by doing and doing is noisy, untidy, messy and unpredictable. And we love it.

Party time

Means time to look out the fancy attire and look our best. There were catwalk twirls and applause.

There was dancing…

…….games.

And Cookie decorating.

Santa dropped by for a visit

Mr Grinch dropped in to the playroom for a cheeky snuggle.

“We want to wish all of our children and families a wonderful fun filled Christmas. We look forward to seeing you all in the new year”

 

Developing our fine motor skills

We made dried orange slices decorated with cloves and cinnamon; the children used their pincer grip to pick up tiny cloves and place them delicately into their orange slice before drying them in the oven. The smell was incredible.

Concentrating faces

Den building 

Frosty fun making marks

Whittling with potato peelers.

Vegetable peelers are perfect for removing the bark from branches to reveal the bright clean natural colour of each branch. Each whittled branch is tied together to form a big abstract tree which will be on display for our mince pie and mingle.

Magnetic transient art

Mince pie and Mingle